David (high school student) member of the space needs a new computer desk and wants to build it himself.
He drew up a design that is small (he lives in an apartment), can hold his new computer and monitor (big gamer case and wide screen monitor), and something he could customize.
His design is similar to what you can buy as flat pack furniture from places like Walmart for under $100:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Orion-Computer-Desk-With-Hutch-Oak-Black/9854984
But we want to build something that will last, something he can take to college, something strong and useful.
Here is David’s original design:
So the question is what to make it out of.
Since the desk is only 24″ deep, we could make it out of 1×12 oak boards, except that would cost over $300 for the wood!
We could make it out of plywood then go back and trim the edges with solid oak, At $40 per sheet plus the banding its going to be around $100.
Then it hit me, the desk worked out to about 55 square feet and flooring is sold by the square foot!
You can buy unfinished oak flooring for under $1.50 on sale!
After thinking about it for a while I realized the following:
Not much waste – since you only build the boards where you need them, not cut them out of a 4×8 sheet.
Mortise and Tenon construction – just leave a board long for a tenon and a gap between planks for a mortise.
Artistic potential – you can create opening and patterns just be leaving gaps in the planks.
A visit to a few local hard wood flooring suppliers and we found a left over batch of prefinished hickory for $0.50 per square foot!
Total cost for the wood: $28!
We picked up the wood the week before Xmas and got started Xmas eve.
Less than a week later we had the first 3 panels cut and glued and they fit together the first time!
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